//------------------------------// // Chapter 27 // Story: Hot Heads, Cold Hearts and Nerves of Steel // by Trinary //------------------------------// As the light began to fade, everypony blinked and waited for their vision to adjust. They checked their necklaces. The Elements were still faintly glowing, but no longer active. The Crystal Heart began to fall before being caught in Twilight’s magic.   It was Fluttershy, of all ponies, who found her voice first.  “That – that was really … amazing.”   “We did it.” Twilight said softly as it started to sink in. “We really did it!”   “Was there ever any doubt?” Rainbow’s cockiness sounded a touch forced, belying just what a long and difficult quest this had been. Still, it was over.   Cadance shook her head and stepped forward. “Not quite.” She corrected, making Rainbow realize she had said that last part aloud. Cadance calmly strode over to the fallen king as he lay panting on the floor. Sombra, too weak to even stand, glared up at her—though the fear in his eyes was visible even from where Rainbow and the others were standing.   “Oooh! Is this the part where he stops being a big old meany-meany pants and wants to be our friend and we can have a big party where he says sorry?” Pinkie asked in a single breath, leaning forward eagerly.   Sombra curled his lips back at Cadance and pointedly turned away, facing the wall. Shining Armor growled and started advancing on the fallen tyrant, intent on teaching him some proper manners. But Cadance held up a hoof, stopping her fiancé from stomping Sombra into the floor.   Applejack looked confused at the scene. “Why didn’t the Elements of Harmony work on him like they did Nightmare Moon?” “Some ponies just have no good left in them.” Cadance scowled at him. “But we have other things to worry about. We still need to reverse the spell Sombra used on the foals, to restore the life force he stole from them.”   Applejack nodded dully. “Yeah. Don’t know how Ah can explain to Granny Smith that Apple Bloom’s sprouted from a sapling to a tree in less than a minute!”   Rainbow looked at her curiously. “What do you mean?”   The answer came in the form of a thunderous roar of hooves pounding against the floor. She turned in time to see a stampeding herd of ponies make their way over. At the forefront were a number of mares and stallions Rainbow recognized from Ponyville … only they used to be little fillies and colts. “What the hay?!” She blurted out, jaw dropping in surprise.   Twilight walked over to her. “Sombra’s spell. It took ten years from each of the foals he had taken … that resulted in them all aging ten years.” She nodded over to a grown looking Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle as they stood by—and even over—their nominally older sisters.   Rainbow shook her head as she walked around, briefly running into a much put upon Azure Prism, who was trying to run herd on all of the aged up ponies. Despite having already encountered them, Applejack and Rarity were, understandably, still having a hard time dealing with it.   Rarity pressed an elegant hoof against her cheek, looking over her beloved sister. “Sweetie Belle ... you're ... look at a you...”   “Yeah! I'm really big!” Sweetie squeaked innocently. Then she looked at her flank and pouted. “Awww ... still no cutie mark! No fair. I thought if I was a big pony I'd at least get my cutie mark!” She turned back to Rarity, wearing a worried look. “I will get it … right?”   “Of course you will,” Rarity soothed, running her hoof through Sweetie’s mane.   Sweetie’s face immediately brightened. “Hey, since I’m older now, can I stay up after nine?” Her horn sparkled as she gave a fillyish bounce. “Being older is gonna be great!”   “Now I can finally reach the top shelf of Cloudy's closet where she hides all her really cool stuff!” Alula gave a little hop of her own, flapping her large wings in excitement.   Applejack was still trying to form a coherent sentence when Apple Bloom approached her. “So, how about that advancement on mah allowance?”   “Apple Bloom, yer big enough t' earn yer keep now,” Applejack replied, trying to sound jovial … but the end result came out a bit forced.   “Sooo ... does that mean you'll let me have a taste of the hard cider like you always promised?” Apple Bloom asked hopefully.   Applejack automatically started to give her standard response to that question. “When ye're old enou—” She trailed off into a grumble. “Consarn it...”   “Ha! That don't work no more!” Apple Bloom grinned triumphantly. “Hey AJ, aren't I old enough for a coltfriend now?” An odd twitch developed under Applejack’s eye. “Eeyup. Jus' lemme polish of the ol' pitchfork an' anypony foolish enough to try is welcome.”   “Applejaaaaack!” Apple Bloom whined in a typically fillyish manner that belied her artificially advanced age and size. “That's not fair!”   “'Neither's life.” AJ snorted unsympathetically. “Good lesson t' learn if yer're gonna be a grown-up.”   Apple Bloom shot her sister a dark look. “How 'bout I turn you over mah knee? 'M bigger than you now.”   It was true. Applejack took half a step back. “Do it an' Ah'll ground ya fer a week!”   “An' I'll ground you!” Apple Bloom retorted.   “You ain't got th' authority!”   “Ah'm bigger than you!”   “Big Mac an' Ah can take yew! 'Sides which, ya still answer t' Granny Smith!”   The two sisters suddenly found Pinkie Pie between them, hugging them close together. “Awww, c’mon you silly-willies! Is that any way for sisters to act? Even if one of them did end up getting ten years older thanks to an evil king’s spell, so what? That just means you’ll have a super deca-birthday to celebrate!”   Applejack sighed, letting all her frustrations slide off. “Yeah … Ah mean—” she looked Apple Bloom over. “Ah remember changin' yer diapers.”   “Aw, Applejaaaack...” Apple Bloom whined as she blushed.   Applejack went over to hug her. “Aw, c'mere. Big or small, ye're still mah sister.”   “Apples f'rever...” Apple Bloom sniffled as she hugged back … with surprising strength.   Gears spun in Rainbow’s head as she tried to take it all in. “Then—then that must mean…” She looked back just in time to see a large lavender-gray coated unicorn with a blond mane and a long horn prance up to her, beaming at her with large, familiar looking gold eyes. “Dinky?” Dash gaped.   “Hi Rainbow Dash!” Dinky squeezed her tightly, her forelimbs completely wrapping around Dash’s slender frame and forcing the air out of her lungs.   “D-Dinky?” Rainbow wheezed as she was set down. “W-what happened to you?!”   Dinky shrugged. Then, as if to add to the confusion, when she spoke it was with an older voice, but still with foal-like pronunciations. “Ida know.”   Dumbfounded, Rainbow found herself looking her grown godfilly in the eye. “Dinky--you're so … not dinky.”   “Nuh-uh!” Dinky shook her head. “Imma BIG muffin now!”   “Yeah…” Rainbow swallowed. “Um, do you still want…” she held up Dinky’s comfort blanket, grateful that Azure had brought it with her and thought to give it to her when they had met.   Dinky’s bright golden eyes went wide. “Favorite!” She eagerly hugged the now much-too-small blanket close to her, rubbing it against her cheek. Instinctively, Rainbow reached out to give her a nuzzle and a noogie, only to find that she couldn’t quite reach.   The grown filly let out a deceptively small giggle. “Now you can't bald my mane, Rainbow!” She wrapped Favorite around her neck like a hoofkerchief, then began to noogie Rainbow Dash.   Rainbow squawked and tried to squirm out of Dinky’s grip. “You can’t do that! I’m older than you!” After a minute, Dinky finally let her go and grinned at Dash. “I gotcha good, huh Rainbow?” “Y-yeah, sure did.” Rainbow swallowed as she gently started stroking Dinky’s neck with her wing. “You’re so big…”   “Yah-huh!” Dinky agreed with a nuzzle and a hug. “But even though I'm a big pony, can you still be my godmom? 'Cause I still love you.”   Rainbow’s eyes watered as she buried her face in Dinky’s neck. “Of course!”   Dinky hugged her, slightly relieved. “Good. 'Cause I like havin' you as my godmommy.”   With a happy sigh, Rainbow held Dinky for a moment. “You thinking what I'm thinking?”   Dinky thought hard. “I dunno. Think louder.”   Rainbow gave a strangled snort. “I think you’re the most awesome filly ever.” Apple Bloom turned to Applejack. “Saaay, now can you finally tell me 'bout colts and fillies?”   A panicked look appeared on Applejack’s face as she looked to her bare foreleg. “Oh lookit th' time! Ah gotta go buy a watch! But first--Twi, Cadance, how're we gonna git the little ones back t' bein' little?”   Cadance nodded once. “Yes.” She walked over to Sombra. “The power of the Crystal Heart and the Elements didn’t just restore Sombra’s original form … it destroyed the black crystals and his control over them. He can no longer control the Crystal Empire or its ponies. I can use the Crystal Heart to siphon the time he stole back into the foals, restoring their true age.”   “That sounds wonderful!” Rarity cried out, hugging Sweetie Belle. “Please, make haste and, pardon my vulgarity, do it already!”   “What will that do to Sombra?” Fluttershy asked meekly.   Cadance’s face grew stern, much like Princess Celestia’s. “Cut off from the Crystal Empire and with his stolen youth returned … I imagine that there won’t be anything left of him.”   “But—but that means he’s going to…” Fluttershy squeaked and shrunk down.   “Buy the farm?” Applejack offered.   “We can’t do that!” Fluttershy burst out. “That’s—that’s horrible!”   Cadance shook her head. “Sombra is a monster, Fluttershy.” Her tone was frigid as the weather they had tracked through. “A tyrant and a murderer. His life isn’t worth the decades he stole from those children.”   “B-but he didn’t kill them!” Fluttershy argued.   “Hm ... we are in a pickle that is a positively ponderous predicament.” Pinkie Pie pouted. “Poopy.”   Fluttershy shuffled her hooves, looking very uncomfortable. “But...”   “Hmm! It's the least that brute deserves after what he did to my Sweetie Belle!” Rarity sniffed. “Rarity Esmeralda Belle!” Pinkie gasped in horror. “That's no way to talk about another pony!”   Rarity opened and closed her mouth a couple of times before getting out a very confused: “That’s not my name.”   A sudden bright flash accompanied by a loud bang, got everypony's attention. “Girls!” Twilight shouted, looking at them. “And Shiny. We shouldn't be arguing about this--especially in front of the kids. We should have a debate. I was in the Debate Club, I know exactly how to handle this. Now, I'll be the moderator, and we can start by going around once...”   “Seriously, Twi? A debate club?” Rainbow looked at her incredulously. “We're talking about a pony's life and the future of the kids!”   “This ain't about him, Rainbow,” Applejack argued. “It's purely about Apple Bloom, Dinky, Sweetie Belle, an' all them other foals that got hurt by him.” Her face hardened. “Way Ah see it, there ain't even a debate t'be had.”   “Well, we need to have a calm, rational, and orderly debate,” Twilight replied calmly. “To make sure we make the right choice and to make everypony here understands the necessity of whatever choice we do take. We’re all friends here and we need to come to a consensus. Now then…” She trotted off, scrounging for writing materials and gently shepherding the aged up kids away from the group.   Rainbow Dash face-hoofed.   Shining Armor shook his head in bemusement. “That's Twiley...”   A moment later Twilight returned, having either found or magicked up a quill and scroll. “So. Let’s take a round so everypony can say what they think about what we should do.” “Are we really havin' this talk?” Applejack gave an unhappy frown. “Ferget about Sombra. Put them kids back t'normal.”   Fluttershy fidgeted and Pinkie frowned, clearly both of them unhappy with her attitude. When it became obvious that was all Applejack was going to say, Twilight cleared her throat. “Maybe you could explain a bit more about why you think we should restore the foals?”   “Put the name o' every last foal on that list, an' ya've got a pretty good start.” Applejack snorted, holding onto her fraying temper by the strongest of wills. “And their kinfolk.”   Twilight flinched. “I don't have that much ink, and I don't know all those names ... so I’ll just make a note. Shining Armor?”   Shining dipped his head in acknowledgement. “I think Cadance and I will speak together, being on the same page here.”   Cadance nodded. “We can't leave Sombra with their stolen youth. If that means that he dies...” Her lip compressed. “He should've died a thousand years ago. Instead, he’s had the crystal ponies crushed under his hoof and trapped them with him in the Realm of Darkness. He can’t be allowed to get away with what he’s done.”   “There's also the number of encounters we had with either Sombra directly or his underlings.” Shining Armor added. “Let's face it: we're very, very lucky nopony died in all of that.”   “Don't be a silly-billy, Shiny-hiney!” Pinkie cut in, her head suddenly appearing between Cadance and Shining, her hooves wrapped around the both of them. “We made it because we're good ponies, and good things happen to good ponies. Which is why we can't do something bad!”   Shining didn’t look too pleased at having his personal space violated … again. “By that logic, though, bad things have to happen to bad ponies.”   “It did!” Pinkie chirped. “He got beat up. Dashie was all--Woosh! Swoosh! Pow! Bang! Onomatopoeia!”   Twilight cleared her throat. “This is supposed to be an organized debate.”   “That means hesh an' wait yer turn, Pinkie,” Applejack put in.   “Awww … sorry.” Pinkie’s lip jutted out in an apologetic pout and she pulled herself back from Cadance and Shining, accidentally causing the two of them to bump their heads together.   Shining rubbed his head. “Anyway, next item: we have no alternative. Even if we imprison him, it still leaves the foals without any kind of recourse to regain their youth.” He shook his head slightly. “If we could restore them without killing Sombra, I’d be all for it. But if we have to choose, the future of innocent foals comes before just about anything else—especially when it’s a murderous tyrant who just tried to destroy everything and everypony we hold dear. It may not pretty but it is justice.”   “But together, we could be justice!” Pinkie put in, her head popping out of his mane, scaring a whinny out of him as he fell over.   “Pinkie!” Twilight groaned, covering her face with a hoof.   “Pinkie, waitcher turn!” AJ barked.   Pinkie winced as she pulled glass jar out of her mane that was crudely labeled 'Pinkie's interrupting jar’ and put a couple of bits in. “Sorry again!” She hopped away to stand next to Fluttershy.   Rarity daintily cleared her throat. “I believe it is my turn now? I believe Captain Armor and Princess Cadance have it precisely. I will concede that the idea of ending Sombra is ... distasteful, but it hardly seems right to let him keep the years he stole from my Sweetie Belle!” She sniffed. “If it comes down to letting my precious little sister go into an early grave or ending Sombra...”   Applejack nodded firmly. “Fer once, Rares an' Ah're in total agreement.”   “But, um, he doesn't have his powers anymore ... he's helpless.” Fluttershy hesitantly spoke up, flinching when all eyes turned on her. “W-what he did was bad—really awfully bad—but the foals can live, even if they are a bit—older. But Sombra will die if we take back those years. And that’s, just—just wrong. It’s … it’s unthinkable!”   “What're ya talkin' about?! Of course it's easy!” Applejack snorted.   “But the passing of pony is never something to take lightly, Jackie!” Pinkie tossed in, only to draw a hoof across her mouth in a zipper motion, remembering to wait her turn. Then she began insistently shaking the Interrupting Jar in Applejack’s direction for her own outburst, who did her best to ignore it.   Fluttershy flinched and crouched down. “Sorry.”   Applejack winced and patted Fluttershy’s shoulder. “Sorry. That 'un came out kinda harsh.”   “It's okay,” Fluttershy murmured. “And, how do you think the kids will feel when they see a pony d-die so they can be young again? The poor dears will have to live with that for the rest of their lives.”   “That's a big weight on a pony's shoulders.” Pinkie agreed, slumping down like she was carrying a really heavy weight. “And that's a hard thing to carry. Especially for kids!” She leaned forward. “Oooo! I got an idea! Pick me! Pick me!”   Twilight quirked an eyebrow at her curiously “All right, Pinkie. Go ahead.”   “What if we only give some of their years back? Like, so they only lose a year, or maybe even less? Might that be enough to keep Sombra alive and stuff? Is that possible? I dunno how your magic works. It kinda confuses me sometimes, to be honest.”   Cadance shook her head and answered. “There's a reason he took the amount of years that he did. He spent a thousand years in the Realm of Darkness, he needed a thousand years to simply restore what he lost there. Anything less would mean his demise, be it one year less or all one thousand. The only reason he survived at all was because he leeched off the energy of the crystal ponies, sapping their will and spirit.” Cadance’s eyes flashed. “If the properties of the Realm of Darkness were more similar to those here, he would’ve just as soon drained them of their years, just like he planned to do to the foals.”   Pinkie’s ears flattened in disappointment. “Darn.”   “Magically speaking, it took a lot of power to bring him back. It wasn't a coincidence he picked the method he did to make his return,” Twilight tossed in.   “Mm.” Cadance nodded. “It's a heavy price to pay, but like Shining said, justice isn't always pretty.”   Twilight reluctantly nodded. “I … don’t see anyway around it. I don’t want to see anypony die, not even one as evil and vile as Sombra. This isn’t about punishing him for all the things he’s done in the past though, it’s about those foals’ futures. They didn’t do anything wrong, and now they’re all teenagers and young adults.” She bit her lip. “The psychological and physiological adjustment alone is just tremendous, and a terrible strain on their bodies. And, what’s to become of them? Send them back to school even though they’re biologically in their teens? Give them jobs even though they’re mentally children?   “And from a strictly mathematical view of it … Sombra’s a middle-aged stallion. He’s probably going to live another fifty or so years. The kids just had their life span reduced by ten years—all one hundred and twelve of them. That’s … horribly imbalanced.” Twilight took a deep breath and then exhaled. “I--I hate to see a pony die, but I don’t see any other way for things to be made right.” Twilight look sad, hanging her head at the conclusion she’d come to. If she was sad, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were horribly depressed: feeling isolated in their opinions and dreading the realization that a pony might soon die in front of them. Shining Armor looked, seeing an uncommonly thoughtful look on Rainbow Dash’s face. “You’ve been awfully quiet. Bit for your thoughts?”   Rainbow Dash’s wings twitched. “Dinky is worth more than a herd of Sombras. And I know that Rarity and Applejack and those kids’ families feel the same.” Applejack and Rarity nodded. “I have no idea how I could bring Dinky and the others home only for them to be … like that.” She tossed her head to where Azure Prism was watching the herd of aged children. “I want everything set back to normal, y’know.” She bit her lip. “But…”   Applejack’s ear twitched. “But what?”   “Go ahead, you can say what you honestly think, Rainbow.” Twilight encouraged.   “Before you guys showed up here … I got that Amulet of his and wore it. And it—it really messes with your head.” Fluttershy put a wing over Rainbow’s shoulder.   Twilight nodded to herself as the mulled that over. “I'd have to know the story of the Alicorn Amulet to know what its effects on a pony are. It wouldn't be the first powerful magical item to have negative side effects.”   “No kidding.” Rainbow grumbled, ear flicking at the memory. “I--I watched his memories and stuff. He wasn't a nice guy or anything, but he wasn't always a monster.” She looked over at Cadance. “And even though he just married the Crystal Princess for political stuff ... I think he really cared about his kid. But then he had that Amulet made ... he used to be this stuffed shirt, snobby, kinda bigoted jerk, but not the monster who pushed his wife off a ledge or would try to kidnap and kill kids.”   Cadance’s lip thinned. She most likely found it more preferable to think of Sombra as an unrepentant monster through and through. The idea that was once a normal pony, flawed yes, but a normal pony nonetheless, added an element of ambiguity she didn’t care for. “That may be, Rainbow ... but I don't see how this changes anything. Whether he was always a monster or not doesn’t change what we need to do. He may not have chosen to become the monster he became, but it was his ambition and choices that led him to a place where he could be corrupted. He made his own bad decisions. I don’t see why any pony’s child needs to die ten years early because Sombra deserves her life force more than she does.”   Rainbow flinched, her ears flattening against her skull. “…If I wasn’t able to get the Amulet off—if I did bad things and became like—like him—would you get rid of me too?”   Cadance’s eyes widened. “Rainbow…” She walked forward to nuzzle her. “That’s not what this is about. You didn’t do anything wrong. No matter what the Amulet made you want to do, you were able to fight it. And even if things had gone differently, you’d still be my friend and I’d do everything I could to save you.” She exhaled gently. “But if you did the sort of things Sombra did, and there was no other way to stop you and make things right--I think you would want me to do what was necessary to keep everypony safe.”   “I guess that makes sense.” Rainbow sighed, pressing against Cadance for comfort. “But it’s not like I was just able to get the Amulet off so that makes me a good pony and Sombra couldn’t which makes him a bad pony. I had some help and—you're gonna think I sound nuts...”   Applejack gave a small, teasing grin Dash’s way. “Ah always think that. Let's hear it anyway.”   “Applejack...” Fluttershy said with just a touch of reprove.   Just that was enough to make AJ’s ears flatten as she sheepishly mumbled. “Jes' havin' a little fun t' lighten the mood.”   Twilight rolled her eyes. “Rainbow, we've had dozens of foals kidnapped from Ponyville, tracked all the way across Equestria, fought monsters every step of the way, freed the Crystal ‘Empire’, and defeated Sombra to save Equestria. A little bit of nuts is not only okay, but kind of expected at this point.”   “All right, all right.” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “So when I was wearing the Amulet and beating the snot out of Sombra, I wanted to do all these sort of bad things—really bad things—then Dinky popped into my head and told me not to.”   Everypony just blinked once in stunned confusion.   Pinkie recovered first. “Whoa, Dinky conscience! That's awesome!”   “Yes,” Fluttershy agreed with a supportive nuzzle. “I'm glad she was there for you when you needed her, Rainbow.”   “Okay, so maybe that's a little bit crazy,” Twilight admitted, looking over at Dinky. “How did she--?”   “She said that Princess Luna sent her and--okay, it does sound weird,” Rainbow confessed.   Rarity gracefully tossed her mane. “I've heard stranger things, darlings. But perhaps we could move on to the relevance of it?”   “Well, I wanted to pound Sombra into goo—even though that probably would’ve meant the kids would be stuck like this.” She winced. “Dinky told me that it wasn’t right to do it when I had him on the ropes and I said that he was evil and didn’t deserve another chance. But then Dinky mentioned Luna. Who knows what sort of bad things she did a thousand years ago. Does that mean we were wrong to give her a second chance? I know it's not the same but ... it's not different enough either.”   Pinkie beamed at her. “I think you're totally right, Dashie!”   Applejack and Rarity snorted. “So over a hundred innocent foals deserve to suffer, to have their childhood stolen, just to give him a second chance?”   “Ain' no way.” Applejack shook her head.   “We didn't need to sacrifice any innocents to save Luna.” Cadance pointed out. “It’s Sombra or the foals. There’s no other choice.”   “I don't want him to suffer needlessly, but I will not allow my sister to suffer for his crimes.” Rarity announced firmly. “It is simply ... unconscionable.” “He don't matter in the grand scheme o' things. Givin' them foals back their years is what matters.”   Rainbow Dash hung her head. “So … I guess that’s it. We’re gonna do it.” Fluttershy whimpered and buried her face in Pinkie Pie’s shoulder. She didn’t blame her. Dash was ready to do what was necessary to save Equestria. But destroying a monster or an evil king in a fight was different than executing one after he’d been cleansed of his evil. That was something else. But what other choice was there? None that she could see, nor anypony else there. She looked at Cadance. “So, I guess you’re gonna use the Crystal Heart to drain the life force back from Sombra?”   Twilight and Cadance shared a concerned look. “Are you saying that Sombra’s spell involved more than just his magic and his connection to the Crystal Empire?” Cadance asked with a worried tremor in her tone.   “Um, well, he used a big crystal to drain the years away from the foals…and that kinda got destroyed when the Elements and Crystal Heart zapified everything…” Rainbow trailed off when she saw the growing realization of dread in the eyes of Twilight and Cadance, the most magically astute among them. “…that’s a problem?”   Twilight stamped her hoof. “Of course! That kind of powerful dark magic would require a conduit to make the transfer—and if the Elements of Harmony or the Crystal Heart could’ve done so, it would’ve when is purged Sombra and the city.”   “Hang on now, are you sayin’ you can’t change Apple Bloom and the rest back without some big honkin’ crystal?” Applejack demanded. “For pity’s sake, we’re in a city made of the stuff!”   Twilight slumped her shoulders. “You don’t understand. In order to correctly transfer the life force back into the foals, the crystal has to have precisely the same configuration: the same shape and facets. Otherwise, even if it works, a lot of the energy will bleed out—be lost during the transfer.” She translated, seeing her initial explanation fail to properly register with her friends.   “W-what happens if some of that energy gets lost?” Rarity’s lip trembled anxiously.   “Then not all the foals will be restored to their true age.” Cadance announced mournfully. “Some may end up their proper age, some may not change at all. Some may even get too much life force returned at the expense of another foal.”   “What if you do yer fancy spell without this here conduit?” Applejack pressed.   Cadance shook her head slightly. “Then the amount of energy lost during the transfer would be even greater. That’s why a conduit is needed in the first place.”   Pinkie Pie bounced up, raising and waving her hoof eagerly. “Ooh! Couldn’t the Princesses and all those super-smart really talented unicorns in Canterlot and crystal ponies here figure out how to fix up a new one? Why, with all the Princess’ ponies and all her mages, surely they can put the crystal back without it taking ages!”   “The longer Sombra retains their life force, the harder it will be to properly restore it.” Twilight explained. “He’s using up their life force every day he stays … well, alive.”   Applejack slammed her hoof against the ground so hard it was a wonder neither her hoof nor the floor shattered into pieces. “Then what the hay d’we do? There’s got to be somepony who knows how to fix things up proper!”   “There’s only one.” Cadance turned her head. The others followed her gaze until they fell upon the deposed dark king of the north.   Sombra.